CATHOLIC guilt was turned on its head when a knife-wielding thief - forcefully disarmed by the priest he was trying to steal from - told the elderly man: "I only wanted money … you're a priest and you're not helping." Just as amazing were the efforts of 72-year-old Father John Mello, who successfully fought off a man almost 50 years younger to protect his church, St Kevin's Catholic Church, in Dee Why.
The attempted theft took place inside the presbytery about 7.20pm on Monday as Father Mello was finishing his dinner and reading the newspaper.
"When I finished, I walked out of the dining room and there was a man to my right [about 30 metres away] in a corridor leading to church," Father Mello said.
"He was wearing a balaclava and only his eyes could be seen. I first panicked, and then controlled myself and fixed him in the eye and said, 'What are you doing here?' "
Father Mello then walked towards the man, aged about 25 to 30, and saw he had a knife.
"When I was about half a metre away, while he was looking at me, I went for the guy's knife. I thought: 'Perhaps it's me or him.' "
The pair wrestled and Father Mello wrenched the knife from the man, but not without injury.
"My arm, my poor arm was cut - there was blood, a bit here and there," he said.
"When I had the knife I asked him again: 'What are you doing here?' He said: 'Let me out! Let me out! Let me out!' "
The man was locked in, having apparently entered the church by climbing on to a rubbish bin and then in through a window.
Father Mello decided to release the man before calling police.
"So I went to the door and opened it, and he went out … and then turned toward me and said: 'I only wanted money.'
"I said: 'Blimey, you came here with a knife. Mamma mia! That's not the right thing.'
"He said: 'You're a priest and you're not helping.'
"I thought: 'I'm a priest but that's not the kind of help [we should give].' "
The man then ran from the church and jumped a back fence.
Father Mello was taken to Manly Hospital for stitches, but was back on duty yesterday.
The attacker is described as being 25 to 30 years old, possibly with a dark complexion and dark eyes. He was wearing dark clothing and had a grey jumper wrapped around his head.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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